Our lives resemble a roller coaster with all the ups, downs, twists, and turns. We all go through these ups and downs and I wanted someplace where I could share mine with you and you can leave me your imput.
S.L.C.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

You never know how you will react to a situation until a problem comes up. I have always heard that some people are followers and others are leaders. I have never seen myself as a leader, someone to give out orders. I have always been the one who took orders and never thought about it. I was always afraid if the time ever came and I needed to step up to the plate that I would break that plate and run. I learned that I can be both, a follower and a leader.

Tuesday night Kevin was rushing home from work so he and I could go do that wonderful deed that everyone loves, taxes. As kevin gets changed out of his work clothes our friend, Bubba, stops in just after leaving my brother's house next door. He comes to bring us the message from Chris that we need to watch the news. We have a big storm coming. We have had storms before and I don't usally let it bother me, but this time I tell kevin that maybe we should just wait a few minutes before we leave.

The wind picks up and starts howling. Bubba ran back over to Chris' house and I was still gettting ready to go. The power goes out and I can here complaining coming from the other rooms. I yell out to let Kevin and Shawn know where the flash lights are as I walk through the house. There was only one flash light that worked really good and it was one of those kinds you have to shake to charge. Do you ever notice that you never have good batteries in your flash lights when you need them but, when you don't need them they seemed to be fully charged.

As I had stated before , my Mother and Brother live right next door. My Mothermoved into that house when I was 4 years old. There is a big picture window in the front of the house. It was the only window left in the whole house that us kids did not manage to break. Well, you could say there is a new window in it now. My Brother comes rushing in my door yelling that he needs help because the window had just been sucked out of the house. Rain water was pouring into my Mother's living room and everything she ownes. Bubba's cell rang and it was his Father . He was calling to let us know that they were reporting a Tornado touching down just southeast of us. I just started barking orders. I know I sounded like a real B***h but there was no time to be polite. The tornado did not get close to us, Thank you Lord, but we had some winds that feltlike one.By the end of the night, with everyone working together, we fixed the window enough to hold them through until the next day. Kevin and I fixed a friend's trunk that the wind kept blowing open. I put together enough lights to get everything done until the power returned. My brother bought everyone pizza as a way to say thank you for all the help. I was happy because I did not have to cook after all that. I was also happy to see that I would handle a bad situation if I needed too.The next morning my brother had a company come out to fix the window. The man who came out told us that he had been fixing windows all morning. There were 2companies a little north of us and all their windows had been blown out. The man also said he has lived here for 45 years and never in his life has he ever seen lightening and snow at the same time. We all got to see it the night before and it was scary.The news caster said it dropped 31 degrees in 2 hours that night.

Now we are suppose to get 5-8 inches of snow.It is snowing right now and I just know we are going to get a lot.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

More great awards from some great people.I was given this award by Warren. I stumbled across his blog about a year ago and I just love to stumble back to it every chance I get. Thanks for the award Warren.

This award was awarded to everyone who is on Michelle's blog roll. I have spent my whole life with Michelle. She is a good person who always tries to be the best friend she can be. Kindergarten seems so long ago but we have made it this far and I think we can make it another 30 years. Thank you Michelle and lots of love for ya.

This award was given to me by my good friend Cliff.Cliff is one of the great people I have met through blogging. He was always there to give me word of encouragement when I thought my blog was a dud. Thanks for this award Cliff.

When Cliff awarded this to me he also added a challenge. I was to give it out and then explain why I was giving it to those people.I have decided that these three deserve the award because their blogs have taught me the most about different things in my everyday life.I award this to:

Saturday, January 26, 2008

This meme was put together by Mel and a group of fellow bloggers. The goal is to try and get 1,000 links. I think this is a good meme to try out so you can meet knew peopleand read new blogs. I like to meet new people and I have found that the best way to do that is to do memes. This meme is simple and does not take to much of your time to do. The trick is ,to have fun with memes and make them your own.

*Start Copy Here*You do not have to be tagged to play along. This game is simple and so are the rules.

1. Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*2. Add your site(s) to the list on Mel's site. Just be sure to post at each site you add.

3. Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the bigger the list will grow.

4. Let Mel know your blog’s name and url by leaving him a comment. He will add you to the master list. (If you would like the scroll box code on his blog, leave him your email address and he will email it to you.)

5. Go back to Mel's and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Wednesdays are my usual days to go running with Stacy. I have come to look forward to the time we get to spend together and talk. For about a month her Husband, Steve, has been laid off do to the weather. When Steve has his lay off time Stacy and I don't get to see each other as much. I have missed going out with her, but this past Wednesday, the 16, we went running again. Stacy invited me out to lunch and she also invited our friend Beth.

We started out our day running to a couple of places that Stacy needed to go too. Then she said that she needed to get Steven some jeans for work but he did not want new ones. We went to the Goodwill to see if we could find him some pants there. I had a blast. I only had a couple of dollars to spend but I had more fun watching Stacy and Beth find stuff. Beth went for the stuffed animals and she kept running back to the cart and throwing in more stuffys. She bought me two frogs and here they are.

Stacy was more on the what she needed search, but after a few minutes I thought she was going to buy the place out.

Stacy found a lot of nice bargains there. She found a very nice set of drinking glasses and a globe for the girls. She bought a lot of other things but I think the best thing she bought was a white frog for Me! He is so cute :)

I bought a couple of DVDs for family members and I found myself a hymnal. I have been wanting one for years so I could have the words to some of my favorite songs. Over the years I have forgotten some of the verses to them and now with the hymnal I can just look them up.When we finally dragged ourselves out of the store we noticed it was way past lunch time. Stacy wanted to go to Fazoli's so that's where we went.I had never been to a Fazoli's before because of always being afraid of going out in public. I am usually just afraid of people. I have gotten better because of them taking me out. I had a blast again. One thing that has help me get through being afraid is Stacy and Beth's sense of humor. They both think it is so funny to get me into public then do something to shock me then laugh out loud at the look on my face. I always have fun though and I have learned to lighten up and be proud of me. Stacy always walks with her head held high. Beth always seems to be full of life. They both like to laugh and have fun and I love it when they drag me a long.We had a great lunch and day compliments of Stacy and are planning on taking her out really soon.

Friday, January 11, 2008

You never know how truly blessed you are until it is shown to you. I was sick for a while and there was a lot of holiday craziness that has kept me busy. Because of this craziness I have not been able to write about how my Christ+mas went.

To start by telling you that my Christ+mas was great would be an understatement. I was worried this year because I had not had any money to save for presents and just to pay the bills I was scrapping the bottom of the barrel. I knew my hubby would be getting a small bonus, but I also knew that it would not cover much. I know this part sound a little depressing ,but keep reading because the good part is coming up.

I love to give gifts to my friends even if I can't spend much on them.I was shopping at little dollar stores and I was grabbing anything that I could that was on sale. My poor Husband was ran ragged because I would see something on sale that I thought someone would like and I would send him out to get. I can be a pain but he lived through it and I think he actually had some fun at it. Most years he would just let me shop for everyone and would not care about it. This year he took part in helping with the shopping and I think it made him enjoy the Holiday more. Anyways I was able to buy for all my friends and for their kids and have a little for Kevin and I to spend on each other.

On Christ+mas Eve I cook and family and friends come to visit and eat. I could not afford to buy all the special foods that I like to cook for everyone but I was able to feed a lot of people. I made meatballs in my 7 quart slow cooker and they were a hit. I made my homemade dip to go with the chips and we also had Ham. I even had enough to make my cute little sausage and cheese tray.

I could only make one desert and if you know me then you know that making deserts is my favorite. Making just one was difficult because I wanted to make more. I just took an Angle food cake and sat it in the center of a platter. I then took fresh Strawberries and copped them up. I stirred them into some white icing and then poured that over the cake. The first time my brother saw it he just started laughing at me. He said it looked like a big pile of meat or ham salad stacked up. I didn't care, it sure tasted good and everyone else loved it.

After everyone left late Christ+mas Eve night, I washed dishes and I set out the candy for Christ+mas morning.

The next morning my mother and brother came over to watch us open presents and my brother helps the dog open his. My brother spoils my dog, sometimes I think that maybe it is really his dog and he just lets the dog live with us .

T.J. loves to open presents so I try to spend a couple of dollars on him every year. He really liked his new bone. He carried it around with him for a while before he hide it.

I did get some really great gifts too. The small doll and candle were given to me by Michelle of Rusin Round Up. She made the candle herself and I just love it.

The frog key chain and ear rings were from my sister, I do love my frogs.

These are from Stacy of My Thought and her girls. These gifts were really special because the girls took their own money that they earned to get me something. Katelynn gave me the glass peacock and I have it right here sitting on my desk. Kelcey gave me the goose berry bag and the body wash. The candle were from Stacy cause she knows I love candles. I can't leave out her hubby Steven. He did take part in my gifts. He wrapped them. When I say he wrapped them I mean he really wrapped them good. He thought it was funny to make sure that i was not getting into it and then he filled it up with tons of stickers to fill it in. You are so funny Steve!Thanks guys:)

My brother ran all over town just to find me the Emmit Otters Jug Band Christmas DVD. It is a tradition in our family to watch it every year. It is a movie that just makes us smile and reminds us that you don't have to have a lot to enjoy the holidays.

The last are gifts from my Hubby and son. I have had the same pillow since I was a girl in high school, YUK, so this year I decided I needed a new one. Kevin ran down one day and got me 2 so when I wear one out I will have a spare. They also got me 4 winter shirts, a set of speakers for my MP3 player, a frog bath set, 2 cross picture frames with Amazing Grace and Rock of Ages on them

and my favorite gift was my Reba CD.

My Mother received a wonderful gift also this year. My Brother got her a man. This man does not talk back or leave messes around and she doesn't even have to feed him. He is one of those blow up Colts Player Guys. I told her with the luck she has had in the past with guys she is better of with him. HE HE HE HE :) The funniest thing is that she is so little that it is almost as tall as her.

After all the gifts were unwrapped I was left with a really big mess. I did what I do best, I cleaned again, but this time Kevin helped.:)

I do believe we were greatly blessed this year. We had our family and friends tospend the days with and some little extra gifts on the side.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

For the past week or two I have had a little visitor. He comes to lay on my banister to relax. He just lays there until he is scared away. I am use to seeing them in the summer but not when it is cold out like now. I just had to snap his picture. He just looked so peaceful just laying there.You can tell that he is very well fed, look at his belly. He did not like getting his picture taken so he left right afterward. I know he will be back, because he always comes back.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Mel, Attitude The Ultimate Power, has awarded everyone who participated in the new years or not meme. This is just another award that Mel has so graciously given out. Mel has show through many award ceremonies that he is truly a very giving person. I say hats off to you Mel and thank you very much. :)